Early this summer, residents of Camp Verde will receive a big upgrade in medical care.
According to the man overseeing the facility’s development in the community, primary care physician and osteopathic doctor John Rooney, the opening of Northern Arizona Healthcare Camp Verde Campus marks a shift in health care opportunities for the area — allowing residents to see a highly qualified health care professional quickly, often within 24 hours of their call.
“The whole idea is to get people in and out the same day,” Rooney said as he led a tour around the nearly finished facility at the northeast intersection Arizona State Route 260 and Finnie Flat Road. “If you want to see us, same day, we can usually do it …. We want to be here for everyone.”
At 26,000 square feet, the building is a nearly 2.5-fold increase over the former Camp Verde facility, including numerous examination rooms, physician and lab areas, imaging equipment and an extensive physical therapy setup. The facility’s total footprint, at approximately 13 acres, includes a spacious parking lot, a walking path and a small parking pad that can be used for emergency helicopter landings.
Medical services offered within NAH Camp Verde Campus include primary care, cardiology, orthopedics, endocrinology, neurology, imaging, lab work and physical therapy.
“Our local medical facilities just took a huge step up,” Rooney said, adding that though the Camp Verde Campus is being billed as a “same-day clinic,” the potential for growth at the facility is immense. Standing on the building’s back porch, he pointed out the property’s far northern and eastern limits. “We’ll see what the community’s specific needs are and expand from there …. We’ve made this thing to grow with us.”
The grounds owned by NAH measure 29 acres — enough room to expand on the new facility two or three times, according to Rooney. Occupational and speech therapy, in particular, are on Rooney’s list of wants.
Walking the halls of the new facility, however, it is clear that Rooney and his fellow health care professionals will have plenty of assistance. Not only is the building wired for connectivity, but it is linked within the NAH system, allowing patient information to be accessible at the touch of a finger. Beyond that, NAH has worked hard to guarantee a hassle-free process for the patient.
Eventually, Rooney said, patients will even be able to room themselves, checking in at a kiosk and receiving a patient monitor.
“Flow is the big issue,” Rooney said, adding that the philosophy extends to his staff as well. The primary care exam rooms are arranged in two lines with doors for patient access on one side and doors on the other side for physicians and staff. The physical setup guarantees less walking from place to place, while the technology guarantees no one gets lost.
Last but not least among the innovations offered on the campus are the EntireCare Rehab and Sports Medicine facilities, which include a spacious area for exercise, numerous examination rooms and a first-of-its-kind feature for the Verde Valley: An aqua-therapy pool with adjustable wave flow to mimic the resistance of swimming.
“Aqua-therapy is one of the best therapies going, especially for the elderly,” Rooney said.
Rooney clarified that the campus is not an urgent care facility or an emergency room. The decision to establish it as a same-day clinic came after gathering community input. Ultimately, he added, the decision to establish a clinic — versus an urgent care facility — will likely mean lower health care costs for patients. According to him, the cost for urgent care or emergency services is far more than for primary care.
“The design and services offered at the new campus are a result of input from the community as well as analysis of the area’s demographics and what best serves the customer,” said Chris Clarke, vice president of Northern Arizona Healthcare Physician Group. “Implementing a primary care practice with expanded evening and weekend hours allows people to make same-day appointments to be seen by a provider at a lower cost of care for the patient.
“The entire health care industry is working diligently to lower the cost of care by providing less expensive options for care before emergency care is needed.”
